Should I make this a 2026 weekly newsletter?
🚨 The Money Memo (working title) Edition: Week Ending Dec 17, 2025 Vibe: Markets are spicy, but your plan should be boring. ✅ The 60-Second Market Snapshot Stocks (risk-on, but with a weird limp): • SPY (S&P 500 ETF): ~$673.90 • QQQ (Nasdaq 100 ETF): ~$603.75 • DIA (Dow ETF): ~$481.02 • IWM (Small caps): ~$248.56 Crypto (still acting like crypto): • Bitcoin: ~$86,569 • Ethereum: ~$2,845.57 🤓 Kyle’s read: We’re not in “everything is broken” mode… we’re in “stop paying any price for the shiny AI stuff” mode. ⸻ ✅ What Mattered Last Week (and why it moved price) A) AI stocks stopped getting a free pass. Markets have been sliding for multiple sessions largely because big AI names have been taking heat—bubble talk, capex worries, and “how soon is the payoff?” B) Data-center reality check = “show me the money.” Reuters flagged a big snag around an Oracle-linked data center financing situation, which poured gasoline on the “AI spending is getting expensive” narrative. C) Crypto: year-end vibes + macro nerves. BTC has been drifting lower in cautious trade. And markets are eyeing big expirations (“triple witching” + options expiries) as potential volatility fuel. ✅ The Week Ahead: Your “Don’t Get Surprised” Calendar The big one: November CPI drops Thursday, Dec 18 (delayed schedule). Translation: liquidity is thinner into the holidays, so a “normal” inflation print can still create an abnormal move. 🧐 Kyle’s playbook (simple): - If CPI surprises hot → yields up, growth/AI could feel it first. - If CPI surprises cool → risk assets breathe, but watch for “one good print doesn’t fix everything” whiplash. ✅ Setups & Watchlist (how I’m thinking, not what you “must” do) Theme 1: “AI ≠ automatic wins.” This isn’t anti-AI. It’s pro-price. When the crowd gets emotional, I get selective. Theme 2: Small caps = sneaky tell. IWM matters because it hints at risk appetite beyond the megacaps. If small caps can’t hold bids, the “broad rally” story gets weaker.